


Alcohol Induced Amnesia

by afteriwake



Series: With Every Heartbeat [1]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Arguing, Bisexual Sally, Confused Molly, Drinking & Talking, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Kissing, F/F, First Kiss, Hurt Sally, Making Up, Molly Doesn't Remember, Sad Sally, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-12
Updated: 2018-02-15
Packaged: 2018-07-14 13:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7173983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Molly had brought over two large bottles of expensive wine prior to Sherlock’s exile to Russia and while they were drinking and commiserating they ended up kissing, only now Molly doesn’t seem to remember it and that makes things…awkward…for Sally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm slowly filling in the back parts of this series and this is how they got together. It's inspired by a prompt I saw on an AU list from **hcfflepuff** on Tumblr that went " _we drunk-kissed but you forgot about it and i don’t know how to act around you anymore wtf_." It's going to be multiple parts and _hopefully_ I will finish it quickly. ::fingers crossed::

She had had the feeling that she was going to have this visit sooner rather than later. Opening the door and seeing Molly there, looking down in the dumps, was a sight she had completely expected. “Oh, Mols,” she said, reaching forward and giving her a hug.

“It’s a one-way trip,” Molly said, resting her chin on Sally’s shoulder. “Mycroft won’t even let him out of his fortress to say goodbye to us in person. He’s just...going to go off and go to Russia and we’re never going to see him again.”

“I’m so sorry, love,” she said. She let go of her and gestured to the bag Molly was carrying with her. “I take it you brought something for us to drink away your troubles?”

Molly held up two bottles of wine before handing Sally one. “A gift, from a great-aunt of some sort. I got them as a gift for the wedding, decided to save them for a special occasion instead of sending them back to her,” she said bitterly.

“Opus One 2001?” Sally said, her eyes widening slightly. “Aren’t these bottles about £231 each?”

Molly nodded. “Yup. And I have two more at home, so we can drink all of these. I feel like getting pissed and just ignoring the fact that tomorrow I’m never going to see him again.” She sighed at that. “Oh, I wish I didn’t care, Sally. My life would be so much simpler if I didn’t care.”

“Yeah, I know.” Molly stepped inside her flat and Sally shut the door after her, and the two of them went into Sally’s kitchen. Sally set down the bottle she was holding on the kitchen worktop and then pulled down the two largest wine glasses she had as Molly set the bottle she was holding on the worktop as well. “What are you going to do tomorrow?”

“Aside from cry myself to sleep when I get home?” Molly asked. “Not sure. I have no idea if Mycroft will be keeping tabs on his brother, or if he’ll deign to tell us what’s going on, or...you know, if the worst happens.” Sally went to get a corkscrew. “He really got himself in the thick of it all, didn’t he?”

Sally pursed his lips. “You don’t really want my opinion on this, do you?” she said finally.

“No, I suppose not,” Molly said quietly. “Sherlock doesn’t mean the same thing to me that he does to you, even if I don’t fancy him anymore.” Molly watched as she put the corkscrew in the bottle and pulled out the cork, and then poured them each a very large glass of wine. Molly had already chilled the bottles so while Molly picked up her glass she put the other bottle in the refrigerator to make sure it stayed cold. “Definitely worth the high cost,” she said when she had a sip.

Sally picked up her glass and had a sip herself. “Yeah, this is rather good,” she replied. She motioned to the sofa and the two of them headed over towards it. They got settled on it and Sally looked over at her. “Look, love, why don’t I distract you? I have the best collection of action movies, you’ve said that, and we can get takeaway and go through both of the bottles and if we still want to drink we can go through the sub-par bottle I’ve got, and you can just stay here tonight and I’ll make sure you have a good fry-up in the morning before work and then...who knows?”

“You’re a saint,” Molly said gratefully, reaching over and placing a hand on Sally’s arm and squeezing. “That sounds like a good plan.”

“Then I’ll bring the bottle over and we’ll make a dent in it and we’ll figure out takeaway and start with...new ‘Clash of the Titans,’ since you’re the mythology buff?”

“Sounds good,” Molly said with a nod.

Sally got back up and went into her kitchen, grabbing her stack of menus for Molly to peruse through as well as the bottle of wine. She set both in front of Molly and then went to her DVD collection and got the movie and put it in. By the time she got back to the sofa Molly had picked a local Vietnamese restaurant and was already on her mobile, calling them up. She placed an order for her and then asked Sally what she wanted and paid for it all, and then the two women settled into the movie. They were at the point where they had encountered the giant scorpions in the desert when the food arrived, and Sally got up to take Molly’s card to go pay for it and bring it all back to her. By that point, the bottle was two-thirds gone, and Sally topped off their glasses and went and got the second bottle out of the refrigerator.

They ate their food and when the movie was over they decided to put in the sequel film, but by then the wine had taken hold and the movie was more background noise. Molly pointed her fork towards Sally with the last of her food. “Men are idiots,” she said before eating her last bite.

“I’ve thought that for a long while, love,” she said, picking up her wine and taking a sip. They’d already gotten rather far into the second bottle, and Sally was sure eventually she was going to need to get her bottle of less superior vintage out of the refrigerator soon.

“No, but I mean, _I_ never would have gotten in that position,” Molly said. “ _I_ never would have come up with the harebrained plan in the first place. I know he was trying to help John but still.”

Sally stayed quiet at that. She was sure Molly hadn’t meant to drop that tidbit, and she’d ignore the fact she had. The less she got involved in Holmes’s affairs, the better. “Well, the fact he was doing it to help someone shows he’s human, at least. Even people who are geniuses make mistakes occasionally when it involves people they care about.”

“Suppose,” Molly said. “You know, though, if it was you he was flicking in the face, I’d have shot him.”

Sally was surprised by that. “Oh?”

“Well, I _like_ you,” Molly said. “You’re one of my best mates. You’re nice and kind to me, even if you aren’t to all my friends, and you _care_ , and you’re pretty, and you’re nice...”

She was even more surprised by the inclusion of the “you’re pretty” remark, but she let it slide. “You said ‘you’re nice’ twice.”

“Well, you are, so you deserve to have it said twice,” Molly said. She moved closer to Sally. “You’re really a sweet person, Sal. You should pick better people to date.”

“I thought you knew I just decided to stop dating altogether,” Sally said with a smile. She hadn’t seen this side of Molly before, she realized. She should probably go lead her off to the guest bedroom or something, because while it was...interesting...she didn’t want Molly to do or say something she’d regret. Just because Sally was comfortable with the fact she was bisexual sober or drunk didn’t mean if Molly had come to any similar conclusions now was the time to test them out. She reached over and put her hand on Molly’s arm. “Why don’t we put you to bed?”

Instead, Molly leaned over and kissed her, and for just a moment Sally froze, but then she forgot about doing what she _should_ do because what she _wanted_ to do, what she’d wanted to do for so long, was to snog Molly Hooper senseless. And he lips were so soft and warm and they tasted just like the wine they’d been drinking, and she really was a good kisser, and as Sally framed Molly’s face in her hands, kissing her back as Molly made the kiss more passionate, she had realized that this kiss was what she’d always wanted.

Except it wasn’t, she realized. Molly was three sheets to the wind on wine and there was a good chance she wouldn’t even remember it in the morning, and while _she_ would...well, it was complicated. She reluctantly pulled away, and Molly frowned, her eyes half shut and half open. “Sal?”

“It was a lovely kiss, Molly, but you’re drunk, and...I want you to remember kissing me, to be sure that’s what you really want,” Sally said, caressing her face before pulling her hands away. “Let’s get you off to bed, alright?”

Molly nodded. “Alright,” she said, sounding a bit disappointed. Sally stood up then, with Molly standing up soon afterward, and she knew if there was any wine left in the bottle she’d drink it all before Molly woke up the next morning. Sleeping tonight was going to be...interesting...and she was going to need all the help she could get.


	2. Chapter 2

The headache Sally had the next morning was horrendous. She honestly had never felt such a pounding in her head and she was glad she had a day off from the Yard. It took her a moment to remember exactly why it was pounding so badly, but then it all came flooding back. Molly...two bottles of Opus One 2001...Holmes being exiled...a kiss…

A kiss. Molly Hooper had snogged her and _she’d snogged Molly back._

She groaned and pulled another pillow over her face. What in the bloody hell had she been _thinking_? Far as she knew, Molly’s orientation was straight as an arrow. Probably the only reason she’d kissed her was she was drunk off her arse and Molly had thought she was pretty and her inhibitions had been lowered. And yeah, that made sense. But she should have damn well known better than to kiss her best mate back. It was going to be awkward this morning, she knew it. Not that it hadn’t been a _nice_ kiss, but she knew she really wasn’t Molly’s type, no matter how much she wanted to be.

She dragged herself out of bed and made her way through her darkened apartment, not turning on a damn light and making her way to the medicine cabinet to get something for the headache, making sure she took enough for Molly. She knew her headache was probably worse because after she’d carted Molly off to the guest bedroom she’d gone out and finished off the second bottle of the good wine and then had a glass of the sub par stuff. She was honestly surprised her mouth didn’t feel like it was stuffed with cotton balls, to be honest.

She kept the pills in her fist and then made her way to the kitchen. It was a bit later than she’d thought as the sun was streaming in, but she saw a pot of coffee had already been made and there was a note on the counter in Molly’s writing. _Woke up at five AM and realized I had to go home and get ready for work. Took some aspirin and made some coffee and stole a few muffins. I owe you. Molly._ Maybe she got lucky, she realized. She poured herself a cup of black coffee, not even caring if it was cold, added a little sugar, and then took all four pills and then went back to her bedroom to ponder the situation.

It didn’t _seem_ like it had been a big deal for Molly that she’d kissed her last night, Sally thought. Or...she didn’t remember it. That was a possibility too. She was just about to do some more thinking on it when her mobile began ringing. She winced at the sound but picked it up anyway when she saw it was Molly. “Mols?” she asked.

“He’s back,” she said, fear tinging her voice. She sat up straighter. Somehow she got the feeling she wasn’t talking about Holmes.

“Who is?” she asked.

“Moriarty,” she said quietly. “His face is all over the telly. Every channel.”

Sally reached over for the remote to the telly in her bedroom and turned it on, seeing the maniac’s face on her screen. She flipped through a few channels and saw his damn smug face on every one before switching it off. “Do you need me at Barts?”

“Yes. No. I...I don’t know. Just on the phone should do the trick. I’m sure I’ll have a security detail as tight as a noose in no time straight.”

“No doubt,” Sally said. She leaned back in her bed. “Was your hangover bad this morning?”

“Yeah, pretty bad. Don’t remember much of last night past watching ‘Clash Of The Titans,’ to be honest.”

Sally felt a hollowing out in her stomach. That meant she didn’t remember the kiss. She should feel relieved, she knew that, but she felt worse. She had enjoyed it, and she’d enjoyed what Molly had had to say even though it was drunken ramblings, but if Molly didn’t remember it, maybe it was all meaningless. “I see,” she said quietly.

“I didn’t make a fool out of myself, did I?” Molly asked.

“No, you didn’t,” Sally said. _But I did, apparently,_ she thought to herself, shutting her eyes. No, it was best not to go down this road right now, not when she needed to distract Molly, keep her calm until she herself was called in to keep the populace’s fears at bay. “Why don’t we talk about something else? I don’t think we need to relive last night right now.”

“Probably a good idea,” Molly said with a soft chuckle,” and Sally felt her heart crumple a bit at that laugh. But she soldiered on in the conversation, keeping Molly calm until someone from Mycroft Holmes’s PA was sent for Molly to help straighten out Holmes, who had apparently overdosed on heroin before his one way trip abroad. Sally hung up and almost immediately there was a call for her from Greg to come in to the Yard to help with the utter madhouse it had turned into and he’d make it up to her, he really would. She’d said it was fine, she could use the distraction, and as she hung up and set her mobile on her nightstand she took a moment to bring her knees up to her chest and hug them for a moment. Molly didn’t remember the conversation or the kiss. She had alcohol induced amnesia. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how well she herself could forget the events of the evening before.

The real question was, did she want to? She had the sinking suspicion her answer was veering towards no, and that was bound to cause all sorts of problems up ahead. She just hoped her and Molly’s friendship would survive the fact she very much fancied her best mate because if it didn’t, she didn’t know what she would do.


	3. Chapter 3

It seemed as though the mess with Holmes was straightened out rather quickly because she heard Greg say Holmes was headed to Barts and they didn’t need to worry about Molly today. He was on edge, which considering Holmes was a friend and that Moriarty prat had planned on doing all of Holmes’s friends in a while back, it made sense. She flat out told Greg she’d swing by after work if he needed her to, stay if it helped, but he gave her a grin and said it was alright, he was could take care of himself and he was far more worried about Molly, even if she was protected.

She was worried about Molly, too, but today was not the day she wanted to see her. Maybe not for a few more days. It would give her time to settle herself, figure out what she wanted to do about the whole kissing situation. There was a feeling, sometimes, when she had a tiny bit of a crush on another woman where she felt almost predatory. She’d been told that it was a usual feeling and that she _wasn’t_ being predatory, but Molly wasn’t like her. And she had been drunk. To her, it did feel predatory and she didn’t like it.

But Molly didn’t remember and if she could forget, which would be hard but hopefully not impossible, then they could go back to...what? Sally nursing a crush on Molly and staying silent about it, and Molly being as oblivious to her as Sherlock had been to Molly? She didn’t want that, not really. She wanted more. She was sure of it, now that they had kissed. But that would never happen, so what was the point?

The point was, obviously, that the dynamic had changed, and all because of one drunken kiss. Bloody hell. It was a right mess and she had no one to blame but herself, really.

It bothered her so much that she couldn’t concentrate very well on the tasks put before her with Moriarty’s sudden reappearance all over the telly. It looked as though it had been all over the entire country, and Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, too. The damn bastard wanted to hammer in the fact he was back, apparently. But she was only half-arsed to care at this point. Fortunately, Greg saw that she was having trouble and sent her home, saying to sleep everything off and come in tomorrow with a fresher set of eyes on the situation. While he didn’t know exactly what she’d be sleeping off, the half-day was good.

She got home and did what she always did when she was stressed: she began to clean and rearrange. She was thankful her bank card wasn’t in her handbag when she’d been driving home because she might have been likely to buy new things to make her house look as different from the night before as possible. It had been ages since she’d done this, back when her fling with Anderson dissolved into the mess it was and he’d gone off the deep end with his Holmes theories.

She’d just pushed the sofa to a new position when her mobile rang. She saw it was Molly and for a moment thought about not answering it, but in the end decided what the hell, it was already a shite day. “Yes?” she asked, plopping into the sofa.

“Sherlock says he wants me to go to his brother’s home tonight. He said it was the safest place in all of London. I balked at that and so he said your flat should be safe enough with your detail and...well, you.”

Sally was surprised at the idea that _she_ had a detail. She and Holmes weren’t friends...but then again, she and Molly _were_. If Holmes wanted to get on Molly’s good side, her friends would be protected. But Molly coming over was not a good idea and she needed to say that without saying way. “Probably not the best idea, Molls.”

“Why not?” Molly asked.

“Because...” Sally groped for an excuse and couldn’t find one. “It’s just not, alright?”

“Did I do something wrong? Last night, I mean,” Molly asked.

“No, I did, and just right now I just can’t...” Sally took a deep breath. “It’s complicated.”

“You said I didn’t embarrass myself last night,” Molly said, her tone a little on the sharp side.

“And you didn’t, alright? I did, though, and while _you_ don’t remember it I do and I just don’t want to see you right now, alright?” Sally asked, sounding hurt and angry and frustrated and sad all at the same time. “One night in the fortress won’t hurt you. I’ll talk later, alright?” And then she hung up before Molly had a chance to respond, tears stinging the back of her eyes. Oh, she’d put her foot in it this time, she really had. She could certainly kiss her friendship with Molly goodbye now.


	4. Chapter 4

She’d worked herself to the near point of exhaustion when there was a knock at the door. She tied her hair back to get it off the nape of her neck, which was rather sweaty, and then went to the door. She wasn’t surprised to see Molly standing there, and the fragrant smell of tomato came from the bags in her hand. “From Angelo’s,” she said, lifting up the bag.

“You got out of the fortress?” Sally asked, trying to stay nonchalant.

“I remembered more about last night and thought we could talk. I’ll head over after we eat if you want me to, but...it’s important,” Molly said as she lowered her hands. “Please?”

“No wine, though,” Sally said as she moved out of the way.

“I only have a bottle of sparkling grape juice,” Molly said. Sally raised an eyebrow as she shut the door behind Molly. “I may have blurted a few things out in front of the owner and Sherlock and they said to take a bottle, it would make it more like a date.”

Sally’s eyes widened. “You aren’t messing with me, are you?”

Molly moved to the kitchen table and set her bags down. “I’ve fancied you for a little while, Sally. I never wanted to admit it because I was worried you wouldn’t want to stay friends. You’re one of my absolute best mates, and while I wasn’t happy with everything I didn’t want to lose you. But...well, I guess this just shows I’m not exactly what you thought I was.”

“Straight as an arrow?” Sally said, her tone softening as she moved closer.

“I had my moments in uni where the women there were much more preferable to the men, but I thought it was just a phase. Turns out it actually wasn’t.” She tilted her head to the side. “There are things I need to deal with, so I’m not sure what to do, how to be, but I _do_ fancy you, Sally, I do. And...that was a lovely kiss. One of the best I’d had in a while. I thought I’d just dreamed it in a drunken stupor but then we argued and it made sense.”

“So you want to try?” Sally asked. “Really try?”

“If you’ll be patient with me, yes.”

“Only if you’re just as patient with me,” Sally said, giving Molly a grin.

“Oh, I will be,” Molly said, finally relaxing. She hesitated for a moment and then kissed Sally’s cheek. Sally felt warm with happiness at the gesture, because it appeared as though, perhaps, her fondest wish regarding Molly was really, truly coming true. “So I got you chicken lasagna, but if you don’t want that, you can have my four cheese ravioli. And there’s garlic bread and the grape juice and he even included dessert. Tiramisu, I think.”

“It all sounds good,” Sally said. “Maybe we can share? I have a bit of yours, you have a bit of mine?”

“That sounds good,” Molly said with a nod and a wide grin. Yes, this could be the start of something really good, if they were both lucky, Sally thought to herself.


End file.
